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S. A. BGWE.

v MINING CAISSON. N0. 397,688. Patented Feb. 12, 1889.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,688, dated February12, 1889.

Application lcd June l5, 1888. Serial No. 277,195. (No model.)

T all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that l, SILAs A. BGWE, a citi zen of the United States, anda resident of Huron, in the county of Beadle and Territory of Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mining-Caissons;and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mining-caissons.

The object is to produce a caisson to be used in sinkingmining-shafts,which shall be so constructed that the work of excavatingmay be carried on without the danger of the earth caving in and thusimperiling the lives of the workmen employethand which will also preventthe entrance of water to thc shaft from the sides of the caisson whenthe shaft 1 is sunk in earth that is springy or where C luicksandsabound; furthermore, to produce a caisson which maybe drawn into astraight line should it be forced out of line by the earth on one sidecaving in, and thus forcing the opposite side out of line, and, finally,to produce a caisson which shall be simple of construction, efficientand durable in use, and comparatively inexpensive of production.

With these objects in view the invention consists in a base for amining-caisson constructed of a series of metallic and wooden framesincased in a metallic jacket, having a iange extending` around its lowerend projecting outward and beyond the saine,

the outer sides of the said base being per i pendicular and the innersides inclined and e converging" to a point at the bottom; furthermore,in the combination, with the said i named frame., cach of thesubsetpieni' iframes l being constructed in the same manner, there- Q byenabling a constructor to build a caisson of any desired depth in theground and securely fasten them together againstlateral displacement;furthermore, in the combination,

with the said frames, of truss-rods secured thereto and connecting anumber of the frames, whereby they may be drawn tightly together andthus prevent the entrance of water to the shaft at the point where twoframes meet, and, finally, in the various novel details of constructionwhereby its objects are attained.

ln the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and inwhich like letters of reference indicate corresponding part-s, Figure lis a vertical sectional view of the base, showing theoutwardly-extending flange on the bottom and the upwardly-extend ingflange on the top; also the arrangement of the metal and wood of which.the base is constructed. lfig. 2 is a perspective view of one of thcframes of which the caisson is constructed, showing the projectionsthereon by which two of the frames arc joined. fig. 3 is a verticalsectional view showing a num ber of the frames joined and the truss-rodsfor clamping them securely in place, and Fig. t is a side elevationshowing the plates secured to the frames and the ends of the trussrodsextending through the same with nuts screwed thereon.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the base on which the caissonrests. This base is constructed in the following manner: A frame isfirst made of the same size of the shaft to be sunk. This frame a ismade of heavy timber--say of beams ten inches squarethe outer surfacesof the sides and ends being vertical and the inner surfaces slanting, asshown1 so that the bottom of the frame is about one inch narrower thanthe top. This frame is suitably secured at the corners to prevent thepossibility of its coming apart. Below this frame is placed a frame ofiron or steel, a', of any desired thick-ness and of the same size as thewooden frame. Then another frame of wood, u2, is placed below the ironframe, and then another frame of iron or steel, and so on,each framebeing one inch narrower at the bottom than the preceding one, the lastone being but one or two inches wide. The outer surface of the base isverti cal; but the inner surface is slanting by rea son of the decreasedwidth of the successive frames, as before stated. The frames are then nle Will prevent the earth aecuim'llating on the base.

The inner sheet of iron or steel, d, is bentont to form the flange u",which extends about two inches beyond the sides oit the base, and thusprevents the lrames of the caisson from coming in contact with the earthwhen the shaft is being sunk by reason ot the i'aet that the shaft hasto be larger than the trames in order to allow the base to sink as theshaft-is The outer sheet, e", extends up and j` sunk. forms the flangeft, Vin which the bottom frames, il, of' which the caisson is built,rest. These 'frames are made or' heavy timber, and are joined in such amanner as to prevent either the sides or ends from bein g crushed in bythe pressure of the earth.

In building up a caisson the base A is first sunk in thc ground up tothe :flange u. vOne of thc frames B is then placed in position on thebase, and is secured in place thereon by means of bolts. rlhe workmenthen dig out the earth under the base, thus allowing it to sink untilthe frame is level with `the ground. Another frame is then placed on thefirst one, and is held in place by the projections u?, which fit inopenings es in the said iframe, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 14,.\Vhen a number of frames have been sunk, they are securely boundtogether by means of trussrods C, which are secured to the bottom 'trameand extend to the top, where they are secured by passing through theplates c on the frame and have nuts c2 screwed on their ends to preventtheir working loose. The truss-rods, it will be observed, are in twopieces. One of' the rods has right-hand screw-threads cut on it, and theother one leftdland screw-threads, the two being connected by means ofturn-buckles ci. Thus, should the frames be forced out of line-as by theearth on one side caving in-they maybe drawn into a straight line bytightening the rods on one side and loosening those on the opposite. Theturn -buckles also serve to clamp the frames together to prevent theentrance of water to the shaft. In this manner a caisson oit' any depthmay be sunk and the t rames be securely clam pcd together and kept in astraightline. l t will be observed that the frame is divided intocompartments D by means ol' partitions d, which fit in grooves d in thef'ramc. The smaller compartment, (Z2, is designed to admit air to theshaft, and the larger compartments, d3, for the buckets used in takingthe ore from the mine.

egress To prevent the .trames trom being crushed in while the shaft isbeing sunk, cross-braces i E :may be employed,which are removed when theearth has settled around the entire frame.

ll'aving thus t'ully described my invention, what l claim as new, anddesire to secure by 'Letters Patent, is-

series ofl metallic an d wooden frames incased in a metallic jackethaving a tlange extending around and proj eeting beyond its lower end tol prevent the earth coming in contact with the l side ot' the base, anda flange extending bel yond its upper end in which the lower iframe ot't he caisson rests, substantially as described. l 2. A base it'or amining-caisson, consisting l ot' a series ot' metallic and wooden lramcsl having their outer sides vertical and their inner sides slanting, incombination with the l jacket having its lower end bent out to form aflange and its upper end extended to form a .flange in which the lowerframe olf the caisson rests, substantially described.

3. The combination, with the base, ot metal sheets secured to theinncrand outer surfaces of the trames, the inner sheet being bent out to'form a flange to prevent the earth coming in contact with the sides ofthe caisson, Vand the outer sheet extended up to 'form a flange in whichthe lower iframe of the caisson rests, substantially as described.

at.. The combination el" the' base, the iframes seated thereon and heldin position against lateral displacement by means ot projections on theframe engaging corresponding openings en thc base, and the truss-rodssecured to the f'ramcs by means of plates and nuts, substantially as described.4

5. The combination of the base, thc frames secured thereto, thetruss-rods for con n ectin g a number of the frames securely together,and the turn-lmekles on the truss-rods for drawing the frames in lineand also for clamping the frames to prevent the entrance of water to theshaft, substantially as described.

G. The combination, with t-he frames, of the grooves formed therein,designed for the reception of partitions f'or dividing the caisson intocomliiartments, substantially as described.

In testimony that l claim the foregoing as my own I have hereuntoaffixed my signature in presence ol' two witnesses.

SLAS A. BOWE.

Witn esses:

C. R. LovELANn, P. B. LYON.

l l. Abaseforamini11g-caisson,consistngol`a j IOO IIO

